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7 victims killed in rampage ranged in age from 15 to 57, Odessa police chief says

Police Chief Michael Gerke declined to name the suspect Sunday, saying he did not want to give the man "any notoriety for what he did."

Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke, left, speaks alongside Texas Governor Greg Abbott during a press conference at the University of Texas Permian Basin on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2019 in Odessa, Texas. At least seven people died after more than 20 people were shot Saturday when a gunman hijacked a postal truck and began shooting randomly in the Odessa area of West Texas, authorities say.(Ryan Michalesko / Staff Photographer)

The death toll rose to eight Sunday after a West Texas shooting rampage in which a gunman targeted people randomly as he fled state troopers at a traffic stop.

Authorities are counting the gunman among the dead, but Odessa police Chief Michael Gerke declined to name the gunman at a news conference Sunday.

He said he refused to give him "any notoriety for what he did."

Later, authorities identified the shooter as Seth Aaron Ator, a 36-year-old Odessa resident. Online court records show he was arrested in 2001 for a misdemeanor offense that would not have prevented him from legally purchasing firearms in Texas. Officials have not said where he got the "AR-type weapon" he used Saturday.

Police were still working to process "well over 15" crime scenes, Gerke said, and the FBI was executing a search warrant at a home in Odessa.

Authorities say Ator acted alone, and they don't think the attack had any connection to domestic or international terrorism.

Seven victims died in the rampage, and 22 were wounded, Gerke said Sunday. The deceased victims ranged in age from 15 to 57.

Law enforcement personnel killed Ator outside a movie theater in Odessa after his 10-mile rampage.

Gerke said authorities still cannot explain why the gunman opened fire when state troopers tried to pull him over on Interstate 20 for failing to signal a left turn.

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Before his car came to a complete stop, Ator "pointed a rifle toward the rear window of his car and fired several shots" toward the patrol car stopping him, according to Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger.

The gunshots struck a trooper, and Ator fled as he continued shooting. He fired at random as he drove in the area of Odessa and Midland.

The trooper survived "by the grace of God" and was in surgery for several hours Saturday, said Orlando Alanis, a regional director of the DPS. Doctors were optimistic he would recover.

A Cinergy movie theatre where police took down a gunman on Saturday is seen Sunday Sept. 1, 2019 in Odessa, Texas. At least five people died after more than 20 people were shot Saturday when a gunman hijacked a postal truck and began shooting randomly in the Odessa area of West Texas, authorities say.(Ryan Michalesko/The Dallas Morning News)(Ryan Michalesko / Staff Photographer)

U.S. Postal Service officials identified the van's driver as Mary Granados, 29.

Police used an SUV to disable the mail truck by ramming it outside the Cinergy Movie Theater. The gunman then fired at police, wounding two officers.

FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Christopher Combs said the gunman might have entered the theater if police had not killed him.

"In the midst of a man driving down the highway shooting at people, local law enforcement and state troopers pursued him and stopped him from possibly going into a crowded movie theater and having another event of mass violence," he said.

Police said Ator had no outstanding warrants. He had been arrested in McLennan County in 2001 and charged with misdemeanor criminal trespass and evading arrest, according to records. He entered guilty pleas in a deferred prosecution agreement by which the charge was waived after he served 24 months of probation.

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Most of the victims had not been officially named Sunday night, though some of them had been identified by family and friends.

Odessa police spokesman Steve LeSueur said Sunday that one shooting victim is still in "life-threatening" condition.

The wounded include a 17-month-old child who was shot in the face and air-lifted to a hospital.

Gov. Greg Abbott, speaking at the news conference on the University of Texas of the Permian Basin campus, read a text from the child's mother.

"This is all of our worst nightmare, but thank God she is alive and relatively well," Abbott said, quoting the woman's message. "Toddlers are funny because they can get shot but still want to run around and play."

The little girl was scheduled to undergo surgery to remove shrapnel from her chest. The mother told Abbott the child's jaw wasn't hit — only her lips, teeth and tongue.

Midland, Texas Mayor Jerry Morales, left, embraces Odessa, Texas Mayor David Turner following a press conference at the University of Texas Permian Basin on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2019 in Odessa, Texas. At least seven people died after more than 20 people were shot Saturday when a gunman hijacked a postal truck and began shooting randomly in the Odessa area of West Texas, authorities say.(Ryan Michalesko / Staff Photographer)

On Sunday, officials lamented the frequency with which they've responded to mass shootings.

Abbott said he was heartbroken by the mourning across the state.

"In the aftermath of what happened here in Odessa, we must replicate what we have seen in El Paso, Sutherland Springs, Santa Fe and Dallas and that is we must do what Texans do best in times of tragedy," he said. "We unite; we come together; we support each other; we reinvigorate our community with the love that we have for one another and knowing the Permian Basin the way that I do, I know that is exactly what is going to happen here in Odessa and Midland and the entire region."

Dana Branham, Breaking news reporter. Dana is a reporter at The Dallas Morning News covering crime and breaking news. She graduated in 2017 from the University of Oklahoma, where she studied journalism. Before coming to The News in 2018, Dana interned at the Cincinnati Enquirer and the Tulsa World.

Jennifer Emily. Jennifer is an award-winning reporter at The Dallas Morning News.
She has covered the justice system from the street to the courtroom to the execution chamber. She has also written about child criminals, growing up in prison, wrongful convictions, police shootings and the flaws of eyewitness testimony.
She earned a degree in journalism with a concentration in sociology from Indiana University.